Page 136 of The Dueling Duchess

Guy wasn’t engaged for the set so he was at liberty to keep his eye on the other man.

He was glaring at Whitfield, tapping his toe with impatience, and waiting for the bloody dance to end when Elliot appeared beside him.

“Where have you been?” Guy demanded.

Elliot cocked an eyebrow at him. “I wasn’t aware that I was missing.”

“You know bloody well that you can’t disappear right at supper—coincidentally at the same time as Blade—and think your absence wouldn’t be noted. Especially not when Sin and Marianne held seats for you both at their table.”

Elliot snorted. “It warms my heart to know you pay such close attention to my activities, Guy.”

“I brought Blade here, Elliot. It’s my duty to make sure that—”

“She is her own mistress,” Elliot said, no longer amused. “And—not that it’s any of your affair—we weren’t doing anything inappropriate; we’ve been in the cardroom for most of that time.”

“You played cards during supper?” Guy persisted, not put off by the edge in the other man’s voice.

Elliot ignored his question. “Jo’s tired so I’m taking her home. In fact, I was just looking for Cecile so I could tell her.”

Guy felt a stab of envy at his friend’s words. Leaving early sounded like a wonderful idea but he suspected Cecile wouldn’t want to leave her first ever ton event before dawn.

“You can go and I’ll tell Cecile that you took Blade home,” he said.

Elliot stepped closer. “I was going to tell you this tomorrow, but since we have a moment . . .”

“Yes?”

“I was thinking some more about Cecile’s contract with Blanchard.”

“Oh?”

Elliot cleared his throat and then said, “Don’t be angry, but Jo told me the rest of what she discovered.”

“You mean the details she has refused to tell me?” Guy snorted. “Why would that make me angry?”

Elliot at least had the decency to look embarrassed. “I’m sorry, but it’s her investigation and . . . well, I happen to agree with Jo: You should be asking Cecile about her past.”

“Don’t worry, I plan to. So, what idea did you have about the contract?”

“Thanks to what Jo told me, I think the contract could be void due to duress. It wouldn’t be an easy process to prove this—and it would likely become ugly—but there are hundreds of thousands of pounds at stake, Guy. While Guthrie’s stopped using the part Cecile designed a few years ago that doesn’t diminish the fact that the company made a fortune off those government contracts. She deserves her share of all those profits.”

Guy nodded, his expression grim. “Come to the house tomorrow; you can explain the legal aspects to her better than I can.”

Elliot’s eyes widened. “Tomorrow? You want me to tell her about—”

“No, I am going to tell her everything tonight. But I don’t doubt that she will have questions.”

The dance ended and Guy noticed that Cecile and Whitfield were engaged in a discussion—not exactly heated, but other dancers were staring at them.

“I need to go,” he murmured to Elliot, not waiting for his response before following the couple through a set of French doors out onto the terrace. Because the weather was unusually chilly, there were no others around and Whitfield and Cecile had the terrace to themselves.

As Guy got closer to the pair it was clear they were arguing.

He smiled tightly at Cecile when the two broke off and turned to him. “Ah, Cecile—there you are. Marianne was looking for you, my dear.”

Her expression went from irritated at Guy’s interruption to concerned. “Oh, is something wrong?”

“She didn’t say, but I shouldn’t think it’s anything dire, although she did ask that you make haste.”